How to Order: Your Local Bookstore Amazon.com Barnes & Noble On-line Schwartz or call 800-236-7323 THE GOLD COLLAR WORKER Harnessing the Brainpower of the Worforce ISBN 0-201-11739-8 Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Inc. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK Robert E. Kelley reminds us of something we always knew in our bones: the bottom line in business, as in anything, is people. The Gold -Collar Worker is a trailblazing book that points to survival for corporate America. -- Milton Moskowitz co-author of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America Chock-full of valuable examples and suggestions, this book belongs not only on every manager's bookshelf, but on their desks as a work to be studied, discussed, and applied. Robert E. Kelley has given us an important book which should cause anyone who reads it to reconsider their management philosophy and style. -- Walter B. Trosin , vice president of Human Resources, Merck & Co., Inc. What Kelley adds...is a description of some potentially powerful patterns and implications for corporate America. In fact, all of society -- and not just in America -- should be paying attention to the shifts that Kelley perceives. -- Richard Raymond, founder, Portola Institute [This book] is a manifesto that will result in a sense of identity for gold-collar workers. For the manager sensitive to trends and change, it charts a clear path to a major competitive advantage and to corporate excellence. -- Robert Doyle, corporate director of Personnel, NIKE Inc. Robert E. Kelley...offers many insights into what motivates and demotivates modern workers and many suggestions for managers for how to get more return for their investment in human assets. -- Allan Kennedy, co-author of Corporate Cultures BOOK SUMMARY American business is suffering from a brain drain. Its best and brightest workers feel underutilized and frustrated, and they're leaving the large, bureaucratic corporations in droves. American business in the post-industrial age has mismanaged its most important resource: brainpower. Brainpower is to the Information Age what iron, coke and oil were to the Industrial Age. It is the one necessary ingredient for corporate success in the future. It provides both the key resource and the major competitive weapon in the modern corporate environment. Yetmany businesses have all but ignored the people who can provide that brainpower. These people are the Gold-Collar Workers. They are a new breed of workers, and they demand a new kind of management. Intelligent, independent, and innovative, these employees are incredibly valuable. They are lawyers and computer programmers, stock analysts and community planners, editors and engineers. They are as distinct from their less skilled white-collar counterparts - - bank tellers, bookkeepers, clerks, and other business functionaries - - as they are from blue-collar laborers. And they account for over 40 percent of America's workforce. Gold-collar workers engage in complex problem-solving, not bureaucratic drudgery or mechanical routine; they are imaginative and original, not docile and obedient. Their work is challenging, not repetitious, and their results are rarely predictable or quantifiable especially if they're scientists or researchers. Gold-collar workers are everywhere - - in the media, in education, in finance, in computers, even in the heavy industrial fields - - where they may be analysts, salespeople, or managers. Despite their occupational differences, gold collar workers have much in common. In this landmark book, Carnegie Mellon business professor and management consultant Robert Kelley takes a close look at these new workers, examines their impact on corporations, and offers practical advice for the people who manage them. Kelley contends that today's "excellent companies" are not good models for the future. Because gold-collar workers expect to be actively involved in decisions that affect their work, they simply do not respond well to traditional top-down management. Often, they know more than their bosses. And they tend to be more loyal to their professions than to their companies. If we are to harness the brainpower of these valuable workers, Kelley maintains, we must develop new rules and structures. Management: Bosses will no longer reign supreme. Gold-collar workers are capable of motivating and managing themselves. Corporate Culture: Corporate pluralism, not conformity, will be the key. Compensation: Gold-collar workers are expensive but worth it. Kelley suggests flexible compensation packages that give employees a stake in the company. Throughout the book, Kelley emphasizes the importance of understanding the modern workforce and finding effective ways of managing them. Tomorrow's real management crisis will not be in the outmoded factories, but in the glistening modern office buildings. This is the first book to take a comprehensive look at this important new management era. THE BOOK'S TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1. The Gold-Collar Worker 2. The Rise and Fall of Modern Organization 3. Toward a New Employment Exchange 4. Corporation Capitalism 5. Gold-Collar Pioneers 6. Toward a New Vision of Leadership 7. Managing Smart 8. Cultivating Brainpower 9. Going for the Gold To review another book, click on its picture. Home | What's New | Biography Books | Speeches | Consulting & Research Take Our On-Line Survey | Communicating With Robert Kelley   © Copyright 1998, 2002 by Robert E. Kelley and Consultants to Executives and Organizations, Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be used without express written permission.